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Stutopia

Rear Caliper Options

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I'm due new discs all round and I've come close to running out of brakes a couple of times in the Alps and once on a driver training day, so I've ordered the Reyland AP kit (in red) for the front. It seems a simple choice given the price and positive feedback on here. However, my OCD is going to drive me nuts that the front will look the shizzle and the rear will just look rusty brown. I noticed AP do a rear kit, which I am assuming will match up nicely with my ordered front kit, but I wondered if I have options beyond:

  • AP rear kit (from someone other than Reyland)
  • Get some matching AP discs and DS2500 pads for the rears, have the calipers painted a matching colour?
    • Anyone had some painted? By whom? Price?
  • Any other options, perhaps another manufacturer's kit?

I know that our cars are heavy on the front end and I'd be doing the rears more for cosmetics than anything else (notwithstanding the discs are due soon) I'll happily concede this is more about form than function - that said, plastic covers are not an option!

Also, how many litres of fluid am I looking at to do all around from empty?

Thanks all.

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Hi Stu,

Assuming you've gone for the CP9200 caliper with 330mm disc (not the larger 355mm setup). The best and cheapest option is just to keep the standard rear calipers & paint them. The rears don't really do a lot or generate anywhere near the amount of heat that the fronts do, therefore making a rear BBK pointless (looks aside).

If you buy AP's rear caliper setup, I expect it will substantially change the brake bias with the CP9200 setup. On this note the AP Rear disc's are actually bigger than the front discs at 335mm. It will however work with the larger 6 piston 355mm setup.

You could also do what I've done, which is get a set of the STi rear Brembo calipers, this has a slight affect on brake bias but it's hardly noticeable. More information can be found on my build thread:

https://www.gt86.org.uk/forums/forums/topic/4097-will300s-subaru-brz-build/?do=findComment&comment=105056

 

 

 

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10 minutes ago, will300 said:

Hi Stu,

Assuming you've gone for the CP9200 caliper with 330mm disc (not the larger 355mm setup). The best and cheapest option is just to keep the standard rear calipers & paint them. The rears don't really do a lot or generate anywhere near the amount of heat that the fronts do, therefore making a rear BBK pointless (looks aside).

If you buy AP's rear caliper setup, I expect it will substantially change the brake bias with the CP9200 setup. On this note the AP Rear disc's are actually bigger than the front discs at 335mm. It will however work with the larger 6 piston 355mm setup.

You could also do what I've done, which is get a set of the STi rear Brembo calipers, this has a slight affect on brake bias but it's hardly noticeable. More information can be found on my build thread:

https://www.gt86.org.uk/forums/forums/topic/4097-will300s-subaru-brz-build/?do=findComment&comment=105056

 

 

 

Do you mind if I ask how much the refurb was? I checked out BCS and requested a quote, but haven’t heard anything back,

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4 minutes ago, Stutopia said:

Do you mind if I ask how much the refurb was?

About £130 as the calipers only needed painting. However i'd avoid BCS as their service was terrible and the finish is crap. 

There are a couple of other places to use, Godspeed Brakes being the one that springs to mind. 

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I've read on quite a few posts that the rear's don't need to be upgraded, just the fronts. I struggle to get my head around that. My car just reached 40k and all of my pads and discs needed replacing. Both the front and rear discs were at minimum thickness (-2mm from new).

If you only upgrade the fronts, I assume you will replace the rear discs and pads several times for each set of fronts. Do you live with that because they don't overheat on a track day, and that’s the main concern?

I'm not sure how they don't overheat... The rear pads have a smaller surface area, on (practically) the same diameter disc. On my car both fronts and rears eroded the discs at a similar rate. The rear pads were even more dead than the fronts as well. That suggests to me they may even get hotter than the fronts…

Anyway, jealous of the OP. 👍 I toyed with the idea of an upgrade but couldn’t quite justify the cost. Especially I’d really want both ends done, for cosmetics if nothing else. And I’d need wheels. And Coilovers. Enjoy your BBK!!

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1 hour ago, jw191 said:

I've read on quite a few posts that the rear's don't need to be upgraded, just the fronts. I struggle to get my head around that. My car just reached 40k and all of my pads and discs needed replacing. Both the front and rear discs were at minimum thickness (-2mm from new).

 

If you only upgrade the fronts, I assume you will replace the rear discs and pads several times for each set of fronts. Do you live with that because they don't overheat on a track day, and that’s the main concern?

 

I'm not sure how they don't overheat... The rear pads have a smaller surface area, on (practically) the same diameter disc. On my car both fronts and rears eroded the discs at a similar rate. The rear pads were even more dead than the fronts as well. That suggests to me they may even get hotter than the fronts…

 

Anyway, jealous of the OP. 👍 I toyed with the idea of an upgrade but couldn’t quite justify the cost. Especially I’d really want both ends done, for cosmetics if nothing else. And I’d need wheels. And Coilovers. Enjoy your BBK!!

 

Fronts have the most work to do due to the forward bias and weight transfer when slowing down.  The quicker you slow down the greater the force on the front brakes, hence they wear quicker.  Depending on driving style and how gentle you are with the brakes you could end up with pretty even wear.  I've always ended up replacing fronts before rears.  On a Lexus I previously had, which was a heavy car, both the rear calipers had seized and it was like that for a year without me even noticing.  Only when I checked them coming up to MOT time they had no wear at all.  Replaced both calipers and there was barely any difference.  Showed just how little they were doing when working.

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I'm upgrading my fronts soon but going for a 330mm ksport kit as staying 17" wheels.  I'll have the same dilemma and it will more than likely annoy me after a while.  I'll end up getting the rear kit too eventually even though I know it won't do a lot.  For now though I'm going form over function until I can't bring myself to look at the rear wheels anymore.

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Glad it’s not just me that’s irked by the paucity of rear options. Never knew how good I had it on the 350z with Brembos all round. I’d buy the Blue Edition for the upgrades, if it was in mica blue that is.

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I've had k sports in the past and I'd advise avoiding at all costs.
Cheap nasty looking things and before anything I'd enquire about pad and disc replacement prices.
I learnt my lesson and only buy ap stuff now
I had KSports for 1.5yrs, 9k miles, 10+ track days. No problems at all. Standard AP caliper size pads, on my 3rd set now (EBC reasonably cheap).
I understand older version calipers were prone to have issues, but happy with current ones.

Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

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We run KSport on both our GT86 as a road going car and our Celica GT4 as a dedicated track car.

 

Absolutely no issues or complaints. Excellent brake kits. Pads are affordable and replacement discs are also well priced in the market place.

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I've only heard good things from the people that have them.  I've heard some horror stories from some of their older kit but their new monoblock forged calipers seem to get praise all round.

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You don't need rear BBK. Been doing 20 track days and about 15 Car Limits days last year, and the rears still had about 1/3 left.  I did get the StopTech uprated OEM disk replacements  and their Sport pads, but still much cheaper than BBK.

Fensport race car (a real monster) has the same configuration for the rears. If they didn't bother with BBK in the back at 400+ hp, , 19" wheels, and big semi-slicks ... I have a hard time finding a good reason to do it.

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29 minutes ago, Adi said:

You don't need rear BBK. Been doing 20 track days and about 15 Car Limits days last year, and the rears still had about 1/3 left.  I did get the StopTech uprated OEM disk replacements  and their Sport pads, but still much cheaper than BBK.

Fensport race car (a real monster) has the same configuration for the rears. If they didn't bother with BBK in the back at 400+ hp, , 19" wheels, and big semi-slicks ... I have a hard time finding a good reason to do it.

Indeed, the rears are all about my compulsions on form, the fronts are for function; which is why I’m considering painting or  the STI brembos. I do realise loads of very serious track workers are in it for pure bang for buck, but I guess I’m just wired differently.

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If wear is any indicator, and as many tracking cars replace front pads twice as often, rears indeed are just for looks. And if so .. in my book rear BBK is too expensive to spend for just looks. And i certainly wouldn't want to make brakes _worse_ by careless retrofit of brakes made for other cars and shifting braking bias or running into other issues compromising braking and reliability of brakes. Caliper paint and branding on them is certainly not worth it.

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